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A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain
monetary value In economics, economic value is a measure of the benefit provided by a good or service to an economic agent. It is generally measured through units of currency, and the interpretation is therefore "what is the maximum amount of money a speci ...
and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include housing,
travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...
, and food vouchers. The term voucher is also a synonym for receipt and is often used to refer to receipts used as evidence of, for example, the declaration that a service has been performed or that an expenditure has been made. Voucher is a tourist guide for using services with a guarantee of payment by the agency. The term is also commonly used for
school vouchers A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...
, which are somewhat different.


In tourism

Vouchers are used in the
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...
sector primarily as proof of a named customer's right to take a service at a specific time and place. Service providers collect them to return to the tour operator or
travel agent A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinati ...
that has sent that customer, to prove they have given the service. So, the life of a voucher is as below: # Customer receives vouchers from tour operator or travel agent for the services purchased # Customer goes to vacation site and forwards the voucher to related provider and asks for the service to be provided # Provider sends collected vouchers to the agent or operator that sends customers from time to time, and asks for payment for those services # Uncollected vouchers do not deserve payment This approach is most suitable for free individual tourist activities where pre-allocation for services are not necessary, feasible or applicable. It was customary before the information era when communication was limited and expensive, but now has been given quite a different role by B2C applications. When a reservation is made through the internet, customers are often provided a voucher through email or a web site that can be printed. Providers customarily require this voucher be presented prior to providing the service.


Account voucher

A voucher is an accounting document representing an ''internal intent'' to make a payment to an ''external entity'', such as a vendor or service provider. A voucher is produced usually after receiving a vendor
invoice An invoice, bill or tab is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer relating to a sale transaction and indicating the products, quantities, and agreed-upon prices for products or services the seller had provided the buyer. Payment ...
, after the invoice is successfully matched to a purchase order. A voucher will contain detailed information regarding the payee, the monetary amount of the payment, a description of the transaction, and more. In
accounts payable Accounts payable (AP) is money owed by a business to its suppliers shown as a liability on a company's balance sheet. It is distinct from notes payable liabilities, which are debts created by formal legal instrument documents. An accounts payabl ...
systems, a process called a "payment run" is executed to generate payments corresponding to the unpaid vouchers. These payments can then be released or held at the discretion of an accounts payable supervisor or the company controller. The term can also be used with reference to
accounts receivable Accounts receivable, abbreviated as AR or A/R, are legally enforceable claims for payment held by a business for goods supplied or services rendered that customers have ordered but not paid for. These are generally in the form of invoices raised ...
, where it is also a document representing intent to make an adjustment to an account, and for the general ledger where there is need to adjust the accounts within that ledger; in that case it is referred to as a journal voucher. Any documentary evidence supporting the entries recorded in the books of accounts, establishing the arithmetic accuracy of the transaction, may also be referred to as a voucher—for example, a bill, invoice, receipt, salary and wages sheet, memorandum of association, counterfoil of paying-in slip, counterfoil of
cheque book A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...
, or trust deed.


Mobile phones

A voucher is a recharge number sold to a customer to recharge their
SIM card A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout) A GSM mobile phone file:Simkarte NFC SecureElement.jpg, T-Mobile nano-SIM card with NFC capabilities in the SIM tray of an iPhone 6s file:Tf sim both sides.png, A TracFone Wireless SIM card ha ...
with money and to extend the card's availability period. Vouchers are typically sold at retail outlets, such as phone stores run by the mobile operator or by distributors, grocery stores, and gas stations. Vouchers are the prevalent form of recharge for prepaid mobile phones in many countries such as Italy and Spain where well over 90% of consumers use vouchers, and the UK where over 60% buy vouchers at retail.Time to Top-Up the Prepaid User Experience: How an effective top-up strategy can improve operator performance metrics and accelerate mobile payments. Northstream White Paper, June 2009 http://northstream.se/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Prepaid_Whitepaper_Jun_2009.pdf In other countries such as the United States, Ireland, and many Nordic countries, there is a growing trend of customers using Card Not Present recharge options such as online payments, or by using their mobile handsets to call the operator and recharge with a representative (CSR) or through their IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system. A growing number of prepaid mobile operators such as Meteor in Ireland and
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic ( T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland ( T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobil ...
USA are offering the option to send an SMS (text to pay), or use handset applications such as WAP or BREW technology.


Internet

A voucher can also be used online in the form of an e-voucher. These types of vouchers can be entered when shopping online and the relevant vouchers value added to your order. It can take the form of any code. Many companies have opted to use voucher codes for the last few years but with a massive incline in use towards late 2008 and early 2009. There are many Internet websites devoted to promoting these deals and vouchers online, as well as Facebook groups offering items such as student discounts and 2-for-1 restaurant voucher deals. Many companies have started their business around coupons. It comes under
affiliate marketing Affiliate marketing is a marketing arrangement in which affiliates receive a commission for each visit, signup or sale they generate for a merchant. This arrangement allows businesses to outsource part of the sales process. It is a form of ...
There are a small number of sites that use a disreputable method of click to reveal method for dropping cookies on the consumer's computer, which has led to the introduction of guidelines for voucher use in Internet marketing. Most video game special editions come with a voucher for exclusive content in-game. Also, pre-ordering games at certain shops may entitle the purchaser to vouchers to content only available if you pre-order at that store.


See also

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Coupon In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in r ...
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Food Stamp Program In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people. It is a federal aid program, ad ...
* Gift card *
Labour voucher Labour vouchers (also known as labour cheques, labour notes, labour certificates and personal credit) are a device proposed to govern demand for goods in some models of socialism and to replace some of the tasks performed by currency under capi ...
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Meal voucher A meal voucher or luncheon voucher is a voucher for a meal given to employees as an employee benefit, allowing them to eat at outside restaurants, typically for lunch. In many countries, meal vouchers have had favorable tax treatment. Vouchers ar ...
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ROC consumer voucher The Republic of China Consumer Voucher () is a type of voucher issued by the government of the Republic of China in times of economic troubles. In 2009, the first series of vouchers was issued in respond to the global financial crisis and a second s ...
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School voucher A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...
* Token coin *
Token money Token money, or token, is a form of money that has a lesser intrinsic value compared to its face value. Token money is anything that is accepted as money, not due to its intrinsic value but instead because of custom or legal enactment. Token mo ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control Accounting source documents Payment systems